about taps

Watched that this evening. As I am a bit new to this it was a bit of good info!
 
After I bought spiral flute and spiral point taps, my old straight flute hand taps just sit on the shelf gathering dust.

Ken
 
There are a ton of great Haas tip of the day videos. Many are specific to CNC machining and programming, but many like this tapping one are great all around knowledge.
 
Most of my taps (90+%) are either spiral point or spiral flute. About the only straight flute taps I have are those I either inherited, or those that were purchased when neither a spiral flute or spiral point were available.
 
I'm still waiting for first hand knowledge about the different coatings and applications.
 
My experience on coatings + research:

Bright Finish - Good for general purpose tapping, lower cost, especially good for aluminum. Most of my taps are bright finish.

Steam Oxide - Black porous surface finish. Rust resistant and seems to hold oil better through the cut, good for steel. A few of my higher end taps are steam oxide.

AlTiN - High wear resistance, good for tougher steels and cast iron, very bad for aluminum (aluminum in coating chemically binds to work). Common for high end endmills for steel cutting.

TiN - Gold coating, improved wear resistance over non-coated, can be used for aluminum. Higher lubricity than uncoated for slightly less tapping torque.

TiCN - High wear resistance, harder than TiN but cannot be used at high temp (not an issue for tapping usually)
 
What type of coating is Kromedge, and what are it's strengths/weaknesses?
 
What type of coating is Kromedge, and what are it's strengths/weaknesses?

Looks to be a vintage Craftsman trademark for chrome plated taps. Higher surface hardness, but probably not as good as modern coatings.

EDIT: Looks like they lasted a while, but were not very sharp compared to a ground tap fresh out of the box (according to online reviews). They might have been chromed after grinding which could round a sharp cutting edge.
 
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